Then the Lord shut him in. Genesis 7:16

Consider these three lessons. First, when the Lord shut Noah and his family up in the ark, they were totally secure and thereby become an illustration for us of the believer’s perfect security in Jesus Christ. The rains would come. The floods would rage. But nothing would touch these who had been sealed in the ark by Jehovah. The Lord does not place the safety of his people in others’ hands. He himself throws the lock. It is said of him, “What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open” (Rev. 3:7). The shutting in of Noah was the equivalent of our being sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph.4:30). Like him, we are not only saved; we are secure as well.

Second, there is a lesson of God’s great grace. The last thing we are told in this story before the waters actually begin to come is that “the Lord shut him in.” Presumably this was done at the last possible moment. Noah had been preaching God’s righteousness, man’s sin, and the coming of the great flood for 120 years, but no one had believed him. They were refusing to believe now. But still the door to the ark remained open, and any who wanted to could have gone inside. What great grace! What magnificent forbearance on the part of God! Since Noah had believed and had gone in, no one who stood without could say that the possibility of belief was closed to him. “Whoever willed” could come.

So also today. All who will may come. Many do not, but none of these can say that the possibility of repentance from sin and turning to Christ are beyond them.

Finally, there is a lesson in that there is an end to grace. Grace is great but it is not unending. If it is spurned, the day of reckoning eventually comes. For one final week the door stood open. But the week ended, the door was closed, and the flood came. The same God who opens doors is himself the door (John 10:7, 9). He also closes doors and refuses to open them — when the time for grace is gone.

For you it is not yet past, whoever you may be. This is still the day of grace,and although it will end, it has not ended yet. Won’t you come while there is still time? God said to Noah, “Come . . . into the ark” (Gen. 7:1 KJV). At the end of the Bible we read, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Rev. 22:17).

Taken from: Come to the Waters, publishing in the UK in October.

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